Higgins Helitours

Type	BUSINESS
Higgins Helitours
Appears in	Grand Theft Auto IV The Lost and Damned The Ballad of Gay Tony Grand Theft Auto V
Tagline(s)	"We'll never go down on you"
Type	Helitour Company
Location(s)	Castle Gardens and Fishmarket South, Algonquin

“

So many things to see and people to do deciding where to go can be a daunting task in Liberty City. From Middle Park to Star Junction to Firefly Island, this vibrant city is jam-packed with famous sites and landmarks. It will take you weeks to even scratch the surface. Weazel News will tell you that the only people interested in Liberty City's historic buildings these days are democracy-hating terrorists but the Triangle Building, Grand Easton Terminal, Civic Citadel and Rotterdam Tower are pieces of classic architecture not to be missed.

”

— GTA IV Guidebook.

Higgins Helitours is a helitour company in Grand Theft Auto IV, Episodes From Liberty City and Grand Theft Auto V.

Description

GTA IV

Higgins Helitours gives helitours using the company's own Mavericks at a price of $150 for each ride. A Higgins advertisement on TV boasts the advantages of helitours over bus tours, claiming a fun and safe adventure in the sky (while footage shows various helicopters crashing at land and sea; unfortunately, there is no such danger when the player takes a tour).

The company bases its operations at a landing platform situated off the shores of Castle Gardens and Fishmarket South, Algonquin on Bus Lane Street. The layout of the landing platform as well as its location hint that the helipad may be based on the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York City, although the terminal building is completely different.

Pedestrians can be seen waiting in line to enter the helicopters. When a helicopter is free, at most three will approach and enter the helicopter. The pilot will take off, giving tours to them.

The name Higgins is apparently a reference to a character in the TV show Magnum P.I., and the tour company was originally to be named "Magnum Helitours". The company uses the slogan "We'll never go down on you", a reference to oral sex.

GTA V

Higgins Helitours appears once again in Grand Theft Auto V. It is located at the Vespucci Helipad on Shank Street in Puerto Del Sol, Los Santos. Even though you cannot take a helitour in the game, it is possible to buy the helipad with Franklin or Michael and store your own helicopters.

Types of Tours

• Around Broker. Includes Humboldt River, Broker, Broker Bridge, Hove Beach, Firefly Island, Fishmarket North Harbour.

North Algonquin

Image	Name	Commentary
N/A	Daily Globe Building	"Home to all the LC news, the murders, the robberies and the immigrants taking our jobs."
	Cleethorpes Tower	"Where millionaires can go to the top floor, lean over the marble balcony, and spit on ordinary Americans."
	The Libertonian	"It's closed for renovation, disappointing arty Liberal kids with their ideas about how there's no God."
	North Holland	"If you look down now folks, you'll see three generations refusing to help themselves."
	Vespucci University	"You can spot the library, where they get their long hair stuck in their fancy books."
	Golden Pier	"All manner of ways for chubby, spoiled brats, to get whipped into a sugar frenzy."
N/A	South Algonquin	"A den of vice and corruption the likes of which most of you folks will never see again."
	Castle Gardens Construction Site	"Now a new development, where Yusuf Amir is building more apartments for his foreign buddies to live in tax-free."

East Algonquin

Image	Name	Commentary
	Colony Island	"I always think of this place as like, Algonquin's appendix: it's there, but nobody knows why."
File:Gta4von crasttenburg.jpg	The Von Crastenburg Center	"That is some serious all-American dough right there, I shit you not. Mon-ey."
	Rotterdam Tower	"A buddy of mine tried a base jump off that bad boy. Man, those guards might be tubby, but they can move."
	The Libertonian	"I've never been in there, but it sure is popular with you visitors. Full of old stuff, crammed with it."
	Middle Park East	"There's a guy lives in a bush, can get you anything that smokes. Anything."
	East Holland Projects	"This won't be in guide books, you'd have to be one extreme tourist. Gnarly."
	GetaLife Building	"Yep, when the hippies were distracted with weed and shit, those money guys never missed a beat."
	Civic Citadel	"I once flew the Mayor in this chopper, oh yeah, good guy, I mean, I don't vote or anything but nice guy."

• West Algonquin. Includes Chinatown, The Exchange, Castle Gardens, West River, Statue of Happiness, Civic Citadel.
• The major bridges. Includes Broker Bridge, Charge Island, Algonquin Bridge, East Holland Projects, Middle Park, Columbus Cathedral.

Flying all tours at least once will earn the player the Sightseer achievement. The different tours are obtainable by boarding each of the helicopters in turn. Not all helicopters will be there at the same time; usually two or three at a time are available.

Pilots

• Rob
• Jase
• Vicki

Gallery

A Helitours Maverick taking off at the Higgins Helitours helipad.

A Higgins Helitours leaflet.

Higgins sign in GTA V.

A Higgins Helitours advertisment.

Trivia

Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes

• During multiplayer in GTA IV and Party Mode in The Lost and Damned, 4 Annihilators spawn here instead of the Helitours Mavericks. In The Ballad of Gay Tony multiplayer, a Buzzard will spawn here.
• Helitours pilots will appear at Francis International Airport with pedestrian behavior (i.e. smoking).
• During the tour that leads along the major bridges, the pilot makes a mistake when he tells about the lighthouse of Charge Island. He means the lighthouse of Colony Island.
• Luis Fernando Lopez was trained at Higgins Helitours. A certificate in Luis' Apartment proves this.
• Killing the pilot of a helicopter before he lands and after taking off without destroying the helicopter will continue the tour as it normally would until the helicopter lands which will cause it to continuously spin in circles.
• In The Ballad of Gay Tony, there is a small parking lot outside the Helitours Building but in Grand Theft Auto IV and The Lost & Damned, there is just pavement there.
• When taking the tours in The Lost & Damned, Johnny Klebitz will mostly reply back to the pilot by complaining about the helicopter itself, because he is scared of heights.

Grand Theft Auto V

• In GTA V, there is a Higgins Helitours sign close to the real estate sign of the Vespucci Helipad, although apparently there are no helitours available.

Glitches

• If you start shooting an airborne Higgins Helitours Maverick flying over your position with a Sniper Rifle, a three star Wanted Level will be given to you, just as if you were shooting an LCPD Police Maverick. The Helitours Maverick will then fly towards you, and once again, just like a Police Maverick, it will begin to hover over you, even though there are no police officers inside.